SalusCare dedicates new recovery home to the late Bryce Burke

Don and Lizabeth Pine, parents of the late Bryce Burke, who died from a heroin overdose in Fort Myers at age 32 in 2015, commemorate the opening of an addiction recovery house in his honor.(Photo: David Dorsey)

The death of their son from a heroin overdose two years ago inspired Fort Myers residents Don and Lizabeth Pine to take action in preserving his legacy.

Their efforts were unveiled Tuesday afternoon by SalusCare, a Fort Myers addiction and recovery clinic, which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Bryce Burke House at SalusCare Place off South Street.

The Pine family helped raise $18,000 to refurbish the three-bedroom home with beds for up to six recovering addicts. SalusCare named the house after Burke, Lizbeth and Don Pine’s son, who died May 9, 2015, at the age of 32.

The Bryce Burke House stands apart from the other SalusCare locations in that its residents will be living without supervision.

Even without the current opioid addiction crisis, there would be a need for this home, said Stacey Cook-Hawk, president and CEO of SalusCare.

“This place is not treatment,” she said. “The other locations have a treatment focus. At this house, they are responsible for themselves. It’s a family environment guided by the residents.”

“That was what drove us back to SalusCare,” Don Pine said of the need for it. “My son’s time at SalusCare, they were the best 28 days he ever had.

“There are so many gaps in the system between rehab and recovery. Our goal was to try and reduce the gaps.”

Stephen Cragin, 62, and Woodrow Gunn Jr., 53, both recovering from alcohol addiction, will be the first residents of the house. They have known each other for about five months while going through recovery. Gunn calls Cragin “Pops” despite just a 9-year age gap.

“It’s just a wonderful place to live,” Cragin said. “Recovery is first and foremost.”

Gunn said he has struggled with alcoholism since age 14.

“I’m just trying to be honest with myself,” Gunn said. “I got to a lot of support groups. My goal is to get a lot of clean time and work on my recovery.”

Residents must pay a daily fee, which can be as low as $18.76, which covers rent and utilities. Food costs extra.

SalusCare cited a 2012 study of 245 addicts. About 66 percent of them who entered a typical aftercare program returned to drug and/or alcohol abuse after six months. About 33 percent who were part of a recovery residence like the Bryce Burke House, however, remained clean.

“This is our first recovery residence, and our first of many,” Cook-Hawk told a crowd of about 50 people on hand for the ceremony. “The recovery residence model works, and we know it works.”